Francis Draper, retired champion steer wrestler, wrestles his four-wheel-drive through miles of rough sand in Canyon de Chelly and Canyon del Muerto, mystical lands of ruined dwellings in red sandstone cliffs where his Navajo forebears lived 2,000 years ago. He pulls to a stop at Twin Trails and looks with pride at the trees thriving in his apple orchard. They are a living answer to a tragedy that befell the Navajo 129 years ago at the hands of frontier folk hero Kit Carson.

Faye Resnick of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" has purchased a home in the Hollywood Hills for $1.605 million. The traditional-style house is surrounded by mature landscaping and sits on slightly more than half an acre with fruit trees, patios and a swimming pool. Features include an open floor plan, with hardwood floors, a living room fireplace and a wall of French doors in the dining room that open to a balcony with treetop views. There are three bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms and 2,567 square feet of living space.

Actress Sharon Stone has sold a compound in the Beverly Crest area for $6.575 million. Surrounded by walls and gated, the Mediterranean-style estate sits on five acres with pathways, bridges, waterfalls, fruit trees, a meditation garden, a swimming pool and a tennis court with viewing pavilion. The main house, built in 1991, includes a paneled library, a wet bar in the living room and a master suite with dual bathrooms, dual dressing rooms and a terrace. The guest house contains a media room, a gym and two bedrooms, for a total of seven bedrooms, 8.5 bathrooms and four fireplaces.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Thousands of South Florida homeowners have struck out - again - in their fight to collect more than $27 million in compensation for the destruction of their fruit trees in the state's fight against citrus canker. The 4th District Court of Appeal ruled last week that the plaintiffs have to ask the state Legislature to appropriate the money to pay them, despite their victories in class-action lawsuits against the Florida Department of Agriculture in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

The chief backyard fruit trees I recall from my Pennsylvania childhood were these: an apple tree that annually bore six or eight stunted, less than half-edible fruits; a peach tree whose promising crop succumbed every June to a gummy mess I now recognize as having been caused by the plum curculio; and a plum tree, the most beautiful flowering object I have ever seen, that in about 18 years of life managed just one summer to produce two unimaginably delicious plums the size of cocktail olives.

How much fruit a tree will bear is, in part, based on how the branches grow. And you can help with the bounty. Branches pointed skyward generally are most vigorous, with long new shoots growing especially from their topmost buds. At the other extreme are branches oriented horizontally. These generally are weaker and tend to produce fruit buds rather than vigorous shoots. Bending and tying branches are good ways to balance shoot growth and fruiting, especially in apple and pear trees.

QUESTION: I cannot get a straight answer from any nurseryman as to the value of composted steer manure as a mulch or a soil amendment. Aware of its high salt content, I have soaked it in a bottomless trash can before use, or rototilled it directly into the soil. Am I inviting eventual problems? --J.L., Orange ANSWER: You are right about the high salt content.

March 24, 1991 | BILL SIDNAM, Sidnam has written garden columns and features for The Times since 1975

According to Roger Meyer, a nursery owner who specializes in subtropical fruit trees and plants, the jujube (pronounced ju-JU-bee) is a tree for all reasons. Consider its attributes: The jujube is a handsome tree, it bears copious quantities of delicious fruit and it thrives in most landscaping situations, even on lawns, with very little care.

A couple of years ago, when Steve Jobs appeared before the Cupertino, Calif., City Council to discuss Apple's proposed new campus, he mentioned that the company had even hired a "senior arborist" from Stanford . Since then, the identity of that arborist has remained a mystery. But no more. Meet Dave Muffly, Apple's arborist and tree whisperer. Muffly is a well-known figure in the Silicon Valley tree community. Several folks I contacted were surprised that his identity had remained a secret for so long.